HIS 367 MODERN BRITAIN
Kenneth J. Orosz Office Hours: T 3:00-4:00
Spring 2019 W 10:00-12:00
Class Meetings: Classroom Bldg A212 Office: Classroom Bldg C213
TR 1:40-2:55 Phone: 878-3203
E-mail: oroszkj@buffalostate.edu
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This course surveys the political, cultural and social history of Modern Britain from the Glorious Revolution of 1688 to the end of the 20th century. Topics include the role of the Anglican Church, the Act of Union, colonization, the industrial revolution, the Victorian Age, the rise of labor, creation of the welfare state, the world wars, and contemporary society.
REQUIREMENTS:
Academic misconduct (including cheating and plagiarism) will not be tolerated. Buffalo State College policies on academic misconduct, including the possible use of textual similarity detection software, are outlined on page 46 of the college catalog. Please note that the minimum penalty for cases of academic misconduct will be an F on the assignment.
Reading assignments are to be completed by the dates given. There will a midterm and a final examination. Students are required to provide their own blank examination booklets (available in the bookstore) for each exam. Please note that in order to earn more than a B on the essay portion of the exams you must make use of the relevant assigned readings and historical documents. In addition students will write two 5 page analysis papers on assigned texts (Burney and Simonson novels) and a 10-12 page paper on a topic of their choice. All topics for the research papers must be authorized by me and must conform to the geographic and temporal confines of this course. As part of this process students are required to submit their paper topics in the form of written proposals no later than February 28. Failure to submit a passing proposal means that your paper will not be accepted and you will earn an E for that portion of the course. All papers and reviews must conform to the History Style Sheet. Detailed instructions on the writing assignments, including the style sheet, can be found in Blackboard or by clicking the syllabi and course materials links at http://faculty.buffalostate.edu/oroszkj. For Blackboard help go to https://rite.buffalostate.edu/blackboard-student.html.
Please note that in order to pass this course you must make a good faith attempt to complete all components and requirements. LATE WORK WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED WITHOUT PRIOR ARRANGEMENT. Incompletes will be granted at the sole discretion of the instructor and require a written application outlining the rationale behind granting the incomplete, a list of outstanding assignments and a timetable for their completion. This application must be signed and, if granted, will constitute a formal contract for the completion of the course.
Grades will be computed as follows
Midterm 25% Final 25%
Burney Analysis 15% Long Paper 20%
Simonson Analysis 15%
BOOKS: The following books are required reading and are available in the bookstore.
Susan Kingsley Kent, A New History of Britain since 1688
ISBN 978-0-199-84650-4
Kenneth Morgan, The Rise of Industrial Britain
978-1-408-23095-4
Tim Parsons, The British Imperial Century
978-0-847-68825-8
Roy Porter, English Society in the Eighteenth Century, 2nd
ed
978-0-140-13819-1
Meredith Veldman, Margaret Thatcher: Shaping the New Conservativism
978-0-190-24897-0
Frances Burney, Evelina
978-0-199-53693-1
Helen Simonson, The Summer Before the War
978-0-812-98320-3
SUPPLEMENTAL READINGS:
Supplemental readings (indicated in italics on the syllabus) can be accessed in one of 3 ways: 1) if it is a website, there will be a link to it from the electronic version of the syllabus available in Blackboard or on my web page at http://faculty.buffalostate.edu/oroszkj Please note that the “Broadcast” links are versions of a radio program, hence there is no video to watch. When the page opens make sure you click the “play” icon on the left side of the screen. 2) Journal articles listed below can be accessed via the library’s Academic Search Premier or JSTOR databases; 3) highlighted readings are available in Blackboard under the Content tab.
Frances Austin, “London Life in the 1790s” History Today 28, no. 11 (November 1978):
738-766.
Serena Dyer, Shopping, Spectacle and the Senses,” History Today 65, 3 (March 2015):
30-36.
Stephen Evans, “Thatcher and the Victorians: A Suitable Case for Comparison?”
History 82, no. 268 (October 1997): 601-620.
Emma Griffin, “Love and Latitude,” History Today 64, 3 (March 2014): 50-56.
Henrietta Heald “For England’s Sake,” History Today 64, 10 (October 2014): 28-35.
Kenneth Morgan, “Britain in the Seventies: Our Finest Hour?” Revue française de
Civilisation Britannique 22 (December 2017): 1-17
Philip Salmon and Kathryn Rix “Who should Have the Vote? What Electoral Rights Did
Britons Have in the Century Before 1918?” History Today 68, 8 (August 2018): 24-35.
John Shepherd, “Labour Wasn’t Working, History Today 59, 1 (January 2009): 43-49.
Roger Spaulding, “Keir Hardie,” History Review 41 (December 2001): 3-7.
James Walvin. “A Taste of Empire,” History Today 47, 1 (January 1997): 11-16.
CLASS SCHEDULE
January 29 Introduction and the Tudor-Stuart Legacy
Read: Kent Introduction;
January 31 The Glorious Revolution
Read: Glorious Revolution; English Bill of Rights;
February 5 William, Mary and Anne
Read: Kent Ch 1; Act of Settlement; Rise of Cities;
History vs Hollywood: The Favorite
February 7 Hannoverian Succession
Read: Kent Ch 2; Burney novel; Crime and Punishment; Poverty
February 12 George II
Read: Porter Ch 1-3; Health and Hygiene; Jacobite Rebellion
February 14 Eighteenth Century Society and Politics
Read: Porter Ch 4-6; Dyer, “Shopping, Spectacle and the Senses”
Entertainment; Rise of Consumerism
February 19 The First British Empire
Read: Porter Ch 7-9; Walvin, “Taste of Empire”
Burney review due
February 21 George III and Domestic Instability
Read: Kent Ch 3; George III; Popular Politics
February 26 The American Rebellion
Read: Kent Ch 4; Inevitability of Revolution
February 28 Britain under Pitt the Younger
Read: Kent Ch 5; Austin, “London Life in the 1790s;”
Paper topics due
March 5 The Industrial Revolution
Read: Morgan Ch 1-2; Loss of Woolen Spinning; Technology and Industry;
March 7 Industry and Social Change
Read: Morgan Ch 3-9 and pp. 125-131; Griffin, “Love and Latitude”
Technology and Industry; Transport;
March 12 Twilight of the Landed Gentry
Read: Kent Ch 6; Peterloo Massacre; Great Reform Bill
March 14 Reformist Britain
Read: Salmon and Rix, “Who Should Have the Vote?” Chartism;
March 19 Midterm
March 21 Dawn of the Victorian Era
Read: Kent Ch 7; Middle Class; Working Class and Poor; Cities
Crime; Public Health Campaign; Sex & Sexuality; Separate Spheres
Victorian Education; Education for Girls; Girl of the Period
March 26 No Class
March 28 No Class
April 2 Victorian Foreign Policy
Read: Kent Ch 8-9; Parsons Ch 1-3; Entertainment; Technology; Fashion
April 4 The Edwardian Era
Read: Kent Ch 10; Parsons Ch 4-6; Edwardian Childhood; Edwardian Manners
April 9 Rise of the Liberals
Read: Kent Ch 11; Spaulding, “Keir Hardie;” Suffragette Movement
Campaign for Suffrage; Violence & Militancy
April 11 World War I
Read: Simonson novel; Heald “For England’s Sake,”
Lions led by Donkeys?; Colonial Troops; Easter Rising
Home front part 1; part 2; Defence of the Realm Act
April 16 Politics and Society in Inter-war Britain
Read: Kent Ch 11; End of WW I; Insurance Introduced
April 18 The Great Depression in Britain
Read: Industrial Policy; 1926 Strike; Reform and Great Depression;
Abdication Crisis; English Public School
April 23 “Their Finest Hour:” Britain and WW II
Read: Kent Ch 13; Blitz; Evacuation; Rationing; Daily Life
April 25 Post-War Britain
Read: Kenth Ch 14; Suez Crisis; Winds of Change
Welfare State; Caribbean Migrants; Windrush; Personal Accounts
Simonson review due
April 30 From the Swinging 1960s to the Heath Years
Read: Veldman Ch 1-4; Morgan, "Britain in the Seventies"
May 2 Thatcherism
Read: Veldman Ch 5-8; Thatcher’s Platform; Debate on Thatcher Government
Shepherd, “Labour Wasn’t Working;” Evans, “Thatcher and the Victorians;”
May 7 The Blair Decade
Read: Kent Ch 15
Research papers due
May 9 From Blair to Brexit
Read: Windrush Scandal; Windrush Testimonial; What Brexit Means;
May 14 Final Exam 1:40-3:30
Guidelines for Writing Assignments
While your papers will be graded primarily on content, grammatical accuracy, style, presentation and organization will also be taken into account. All papers are required to adhere to the History Style Sheet which is available in Blackboard and on my web site. Failure to follow the style sheet will result in significant penalties; these consist of at least the loss of a full letter grade for each category of violation (i.e. use of contractions will cost you a letter grade, reducing an A paper to a B). This includes paper length, non-standard fonts, margins and line spacing. Please note that a short paper is not necessarily a bad paper; I am primarily interested in what you have to say, how well you say it and if you have developed your thesis and argument sufficiently.As you write your papers feel free to paraphrase or quote suitable passages that illustrate your points. However, if you quote or paraphrase, you must cite the relevant passage. You must also cite detailed information (i.e. statistics or items that are not common knowledge). Proper citation formats can be found in the History Style Sheet. Please note that in addition to enforcing Buffalo State College’s policies on academic misconduct, including the possible use of textual similarity detection software, the minimum penalty for plagiarism is an F on the assignment.1 For more information on plagiarism, how to footnote, or how to write a research paper consult the relevant sections of Benjamin’s A Student’s Guide to History. If you are still unclear about when or how to cite please come see me during my office hours. That is why I am there.
Since much of what is out on the internet is of dubious quality, the use of web pages as source material is strictly forbidden unless authorized by me in writing. The only exceptions to this rule are the individual web sites that I have assigned as required reading material. On a similar note, the use of encyclopedias is also forbidden. While they may be useful reference tools or for providing an overview of a particular topic, encyclopedias have no place in college level work. Articles in historical encyclopedias (i.e. The Encyclopedia of European Social History) may be acceptable, but must first be cleared by me in writing.
I am obviously a firm believer in written assignments since they help develop organizational, analytical and communication skills, all of which are things you will need in the workplace. Consequently, I expect you to treat all graded assignments (in this or any other class) as preparations for your future career. Turning in business reports that are filled with grammatical errors, failures in logic, poor argumentation and lack of evidence portrays a degree of incompetence, even if it is undeserved, and will probably get you fired. Get in the habit now of proofreading your work to catch typos, misspellings and nonsensical statements. Read your papers aloud to see how they sound. Better still, have a friend or roommate read your work since they are more likely to notice any problems. Most of you will be writing your papers on wordprocessors. No matter what program you use, they all have spell checkers. It is silly and self-defeating not to make use of them.
While I do not allow rewrites once papers have been graded, I will read and comment on rough drafts if I am given enough time. Alternatively, you may want to consult either the campus writing center or some of the history tutors for help or advice. Keep your notes and copies of your paper to facilitate rewrites and to safeguard against loss, computer errors, random destruction by pets and similar catastrophes. Finally, and most importantly, if you are having any problems in this course come see me.
Book Analysis Papers
All students will write 2 five page (1500 word) historical analyses of Frances Bureny’s Evelina and Helen Simonson’s The Summer Before the War. Since these are an analysis and not “book reports” I am not interested in plot summaries. Similarly, I am not interested in whether you liked the book or found it interesting. Your analysis paper should analyze and critique the author’s portrayal of some of the historical events or themes covered in this course. Plot details may be used as evidence to support your analysis. Use the following questions as a guide when reading and thinking about the review; they are, however, by no means all inclusive, nor do you need to answer each one. How does the novel portray historical events or themes covered in class? For example, how do they depict the importance of class in British society? What issues shaped British culture, religion or politics during the Georgian or Edwardian periods? What insights do the novels provide on historical issues such as the British Empire, industrialization, the emergence of socialism or the onset of World War I? How accurate are these depictions? Have they added to your understanding of British history? You will need to be selective in choosing which elements to include in your reviews since both works are very complex and illustrate many historical trends. You will also need to incorporate and cite historical evidence drawn from other class materials in order to support your points.
As you will discover, 5 pages provides barely enough room to introduce a topic, let alone go into much detail. Hence, your papers should have a narrowly defined thesis and must be very selective in both their use and presentation of supporting evidence or examples. Since these papers are so short keep quotations to a minimum so that you will have more room to develop your own thoughts and arguments. To strengthen your argument(s), however, your reviews should draw upon and cite specific examples from the novel as well as corroborating evidence. There is ample material on which to base your papers in my lectures and your textbooks; outside materials, although always welcome, are not required.
Research Paper
In addition to the book analyses, all students will write a 10-12 page (3000-3600 word) paper on a topic of their own choice. While the actual topics for your papers are up to you, they must remain within the geographical and temporal confines of this course and should analyze some facet of modern British history 1688-present in detail. Any colonial topic must focus on imperialism’s impact on Britain rather than on events in the colonized area. All paper topics must be cleared with me first in the form of a written paper proposal due no later than February 28. Complete proposals will outline your topic, the specific issues you intend to address, and must include a bibliography. If, after you have begun researching and writing your paper, you choose to use additional sources, you must submit an amended bibliography to me in writing. Papers that use unauthorized materials will not be accepted. Similarly, papers that deviate significantly from your research proposal will also not be accepted. This does not mean, however, that you are permanently locked in to a particular paper topic; if you change your mind and opt to pursue some other topic you must submit a new paper proposal which may or may not be accepted at my discretion. In order to find suitable research materials you will need to go beyond what is in our library catalog by making use of the JSTOR, Worldcat, and Academic Search Complete databases. Completed papers are due in class on May 9.
Possible paper topics include:
The Jacobite Uprising Thatcher and the 1984 Coal Strike
London in the Blitz The Rise of the Welfare State
Edwardian Culture Britain and the Abolition of Slavery
1Buffalo State College, Undergraduate Catalog 2018-2019, 46.